Now, this was not supposed to be a post about the Rule 5 Draft — the REAL post is coming soon — but I got caught up looking at the history of Rule 5 and got carried away and ended up with this thing. I was going to try and shorten it, break it up, insert it in the real post as a Pozterisk … but frankly that feels like work. And this blog is not supposed to feel like work. So instead, I will just dump this on you — a rambling history of the Rule 5 and bonus babies. I think it’s fair to say I have very little control of this blog.
OK, you probably know the basic rules of the Rule 5 draft. To put it as simply as possible, once a year, teams are allowed to draft players from other teams assuming:
1. They have room on their 40-man roster.
2. The player have been in the organization for four years (five years if the player was drafted at 18 years old).
2. The player is NOT on the team’s 40-man roster.
You probably know all that. And you probably know the catch: If you draft someone in the Rule 5 draft and you want him for your very own, you have to keep him on your active roster for a whole season. That’s the deal.
You may not know — I did not — that the Rule 5 draft goes back more than 100 years. It was set up as a mechanism to redistribute talent so that one team did not just take all the best players and hide them in various nooks and crannies. The rules — especially the eligibility rules — have changed quite a bit through the years. But all in all the basic concept of the Rule 5 Draft has been about the same. Teams were allowed to draft players off other teams if they were willing to keep them on the roster for a whole year. Even in the early days, a few good players were taken in the Rule 5. Hack Wilson, for instance, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 1925 Rule 5 draft.
In 1947, I think, the Rule 5 took on a whole new meaning because of something that was somewhat unrelated. That was the year that baseball instituted the Bonus Baby Clause. The rule stated that any amateur player who got a bonus more than a certain amount ($4,000 at first) had to be kept on the big league roster for the whole season (and, for a time, two whole seasons). The idea, at least on the surface, was to prevent the richest teams from buying up all the best amateur players. Some thought that the real idea was to discourage teams from giving big bonuses.
Either was, the Bonus Baby rule stayed on the books, on and off, until the amateur draft (the Rule 4 draft) began in 1965.
Again, this is mostly unrelated but since this whole post is unrelated — let’s talk about the Bonus Baby rule for a minute. It created many interesting — and in some cases sad — situations. A couple of the interesting ones:
– Jim Kaat was going to sign as a bonus baby in 1957 … and his father forbid it. Kaat’s Dad thought that a year at the big league level could ruin his son’s development. They signed with the Washington Senators for LESS MONEY so that Jim could go to the minor leagues. Kaat to this day will tell you that if he had not had the time in Superior and Missoula and Chattanooga and Charleston, he would not have had the career he had — winning 283 games and so on. But, seriously, how many parents would have the wisdom (and wherewithal) to take less than they can in a bonus.
– The New York Yankees wanted talented Clete Boyer, but he was a bonus baby and they did not want to carry him for a year. So, in what now looks like a remarkably underhanded deal, the Kansas City Athletics took Boyer and carried him for two years (he could not hit at all) and then included him as the “player to be named later” in a 13-player trade with the Yankees. Boyer went to the minors for a couple of years and then came up and was a brilliant defensive third baseman and key player on five Yankee pennant winners.
The sad situation is that many talented players spent that year in the big leagues and were never heard from again. In 1973, much was made of the story of David Clyde — who was drafted with the first overall pick out of high school, sent right to the big leagues out of high school and, by popular account, was ruined. Well in the Bonus Baby period that was a pretty common tale.
So what connects the Bonus Baby clause and the Rule 5 Draft? Well, one guy connected them — Branch Rickey. People tend to know Rickey first and foremost for signing Jackie Robinson and, not far behind, for really inventing the farm system. Well it seems to me that if you think about it: Rickey’s professional life was really an insatiable quest to find new baseball talent. Rickey was very much a moral man, no question about it, but he also knew how much talent there was in the Negro Leagues. And by signing Jackie Robinson and, soon after, Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella, he helped build the best team in the National League.
He did not get to enjoy that team though. In 1950, he was bought out and he moved to become general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And there, he went at acquiring players in a whole new way — Bonus Babies and Rule 5 picks. It’s really staggering if you look back at it. Rickey was more than happy to carry any player with talent. The Pirates were awful, and he knew it, and he was willing to sacrifice wins and losses today for the potential of good players down the road.
It was bold and interesting and from 1952-55 — four years — Rickey put together one of the most awe-inspiring shows of baseball maneuvering ever.
Look:
– For the 1952 season, the Pirates signed Bonus Baby and basketball superstar Dick Groat out of Duke in 1952 and carried him (Groat then played pro basketball and went to the army before returning to Pittsburgh). Groat, of course, went on to a stellar career; he won the MVP in 1960.
– For the 1953 season, Rickey signed Heisman Trophy winner and Bonus Baby Vic Janowicz to a $25,000 contract and carried him for two seasons (Janowicz punched up a 45 OPS+ in 214 plate appearances and went back to football before his career was ended by a terrible automobile accident).
– THAT SAME YEAR, Rickey signed a carried a 17-year-old Bonus Baby catcher and multi-sport star out of Hartford named Nick Koback — he only got 35 plate appearances in the big leagues and then returned to Connecticut to become a golf pro.
– THAT SAME YEAR, Rickey signed Bonus Baby Eddie O’Brien, a 5-foot-9 shortstop out of Seattle University. They carried him too — gave him 282 plate appearances. He hit .238/.289/.280 — a 50 OPS+. He returned to the minors and returned a couple of years later as a utility man. He later made a brief run as a pitcher.
– THAT SAME YEAR, Rickey signed Bonus Baby Johnny O’Brien, Eddie’s twin brother, also out of Seattle University. The O’Brien twins were really more famous for basketball — together, apparently, they were on the team that upset the Harlem Globetrotters — but as you can see that was Branch Rickey’s thing. He liked multi-sport athletes. Johnny was a second baseman and a slightly better hitter … but only slightly. In 1955, Johnny showed real promise hitting .299/.346/.378 in 304 plate appearances. But it was an illusion, and Johnny also made a brief run as a pitcher.
– THAT SAME YEAR, Rickey drafted 25-year-old right-hander Elroy Face off the Brooklyn Dodgers in the Rule 5. That was the second time Rickey had drafted Face — he plucked Face out of the Philadelphia minor league system two years earlier. Face appeared in 41 games in ‘53, and had a 6.58 ERA. After a year in the minors, Face returned and, of course, went on to a great career that included that amazing 18-1 record in 1959 and three saves in the 1960 World Series.
– THAT SAME YEAR, Rickey drafted two veterans in the Rule 5 — 29-year-old righty pitcher Bob Hall and 31-year-old right Johnny Hetki — and carried them both.
Incidentally, this means that the 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates carried FOUR Bonus Babies and three Rule V guys … which might explain why they went 50-104. Then again, that was better than the 42-112 they had gone the year before.
– For the 1954 season, the Pirates and Rickey signed Bonus Baby Laurin Pepper who was — you guessed it — a huge football star at Mississippi Southern. He was drafted by the Steelers, but Rickey and the Pirates brought him for 35K. He went 1-5 with a 7.99 ERA in his Bonus Baby Year. He won one more game in his career.
– Also for 1954, Rickey drafted Jerry Lynch off the Yankees in the Rule 5 and carried him in the Rule 5. Three years later, Cincinnati would take Lynch away in their own Rule 5 pick and Lynch would go on to a nice career as an outfielder and pinch-hitter.
– For the 1955 season, Rickey signed a 6-foot-6 Bonus Baby pitcher from Pennsylvania named Paul Martin. I can only suspect that Martin was a big basketball star too, though I’m not able to find that in my quick research. He started one game and has the distinction of having walked 17 batters in only 7 innings — the highest walks per nine inning ratio of any pitcher who ever threw more than five innings (21.86 walks per nine).
– That same year, Rickey signed Bonus Baby Red Swanson — son of the old LSU coach who also went by Red Swanson. Confusing. Red Swanson got into one game that year, nine the next year, pitched decent in limited duty in 1957 and never again pitched in the big leagues.
– And, finally, that same year, Rickey made the most famous Rule 5 Draft of his career — the most famous in baseball history — when he took Roberto Clemente away from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Apparently, the Dodgers had an inking of what they had with Clemente and tried to hide him by benching him whenever other scouts came around. This seems to me one of the dumber strategies I’ve heard. Anyway, Rickey drafted Clemente even though his own scouting report — reprinted in David Maraniss’ epic “Clemente” — suggests that Rickey was not entirely sold. But at that point, Rickey was so into carrying players on the big league roster, he had to figure: What the heck?
That amazes me — in a four year period, Rickey and the Pirates carried 10 prospects on the big league club. And hey, while most of them busted, you would have to say that a process that gave a team Dick Groat, Roy Face and Roberto Clemente is not bad at all. The Pirates did not do much Rule 5 drafting or Bonus Baby signing after Rickey left for health reasons.
By 1965, there was an amateur draft and the Bonus Baby concept died. With that, I think, teams no longer had much stomach for carrying player on their roster. For instance, in 1970 the St. Louis Cardinals were pretty bad and in the Rule 5 they saw a talented and available first baseman in the Boston Red Sox system named Cecil Cooper. He had just turned 21, and he was wrecking the minor leagues, and the Cardinals took him. But, then the Cardinals realized that they really did not want to open up a spot for him and returned Cooper to the Red Sox. Cooper, as you know, would go on to an awfully good career.
And that was common. Most Rule 5 players get returned to their original teams. There are not many players worth that sort of commitment, certainly not players who have been in the minors for four or five years and are not deemed good enough to give a 40-man roster spot.
But a few talents sneak through the Rule 5. You have probably heard the biggest names — George Bell, Willie Upshaw, Willie Hernandez. Darrell Evans is one of the best Rule 5 picks. Evans was drafted four times in the amateur draft before he finally signed with the Kansas City Athletics who, almost immediately, because the Oakland Athletics. Six months later, he was taken by the Atlanta Braves in the Rule 5 — the Braves carried him and he would go on to a near Hall of Fame career.
There have been some prominent recent Rule 5 picks, and now we’re getting to what was SUPPOSED to be the crux of this post. In 2005, the Florida Marlins took a stocky and strikeout-prone 25-year-old second baseman who had never gotten out of Class AA named Dan Uggla. The Marlins were not only able to keep him in the roster … he made the All-Star team the first year. He hit 27 homers that year and has hit more than 30 in the three years since.
In 2004, the Philadelphia Phillies took Shane Victorino — interestingly that was the SECOND time Victorino has been drafted Rule 5. The feeling with Victorino was that he was so good defensively, a team could carry him as a fourth outfielder and wait for his bat to come around. Victorino only played 21 games his Rule 5 year. He has been the Phillies every day center fielder — and a two-time Gold Glove winner — in the years since.
In 2006, the Cubs took Josh Hamilton in the Rule 5 … everyone knows Hamilton’s story of failure and redemption and all that. The Reds purchased Hamilton, and in 90 games he hit 19 homers and punched up a 131 OPS+. He then was traded to Texas where he had a huge season — .304/.371/.530 with 32 homers, 130 RBIs, 134 OPS+ — and he had that memorable home run derby.
And there are two pitchers — I think you instinctively know who they are — who define the Rule 5 Draft for me and, perhaps even more, define the whole concept of getting lucky. But since we are about 2,000 words into this thing — foolishly assuming you actually made it this far — you’ll have to wait a bit for that post.
![[Frank Metz, first baseman, Boston NL (baseball)] (LOC)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2868836690_9bf964b60c.jpg)
![[Sylvia Sweets Tea Room, corner of School and Main streets, Brockton, Mass.] (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2038/2178249475_dd2e718b6b.jpg)
![[Small farm of John P. Collins, Taunton, Mass.] (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2321/2178387059_5fa38b4339_m.jpg)
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